Monday, March 29, 2010

Mail Not Being Delivered to Poor Residents

Non-delivery of mail to poor people living in downtown San Francisco has sparked a controversy - and a lawsuit - according to an article that appears in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Reporter Justin Berton scribes,"... an estimated 19,000 people who live in residential hotels in San Francisco but do not receive individual mail service, under U.S. Postal Service policy. Instead, carriers deliver a clump of mail to a residential hotel's front office, often leaving the residents to fish for their personal correspondence."

The San Francisco City Attorney's office sued the Postal Service in May, arguing that residential hotels often house newly arrived immigrants, veterans or senior citizens, who risk losing important legal documents or Social Security checks without individual mailboxes. It was noted that people who live in the more affluent residential hotels in downtown high-rises have their mail delivered individually.

James Wigdel, a spokesman for the San Francisco branch of the Postal Service declined to comment on the situation due to the pending litigation.

Shown above, a makeshift mailbox outside an apartment in a residential hotel in San Francisco's Chinatown.